請依下文回答第 11 題至第 15 題
Where food is scarce and violence common, parents may try to cope by marrying their daughters off－usually to much
older men－as soon as the girls enter puberty. But the marriages themselves can harm the young brides. Such unions
often end girls’ educations and 11 significant health risks. Pregnancy is the number one cause of death
worldwide among girls between the ages of 15 and 19. And a child is statistically likely to be born within the first two
years of marriage.
The number of girls facing these risks is staggering. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 12 , 74 percent of
girls aged 15 to 19 are married. In Nepal, 7 percent of girls are wedded before they turn 10. Throughout sub-Saharan
Africa girls’ and women’s chances of 13 HIV substantially increase after they marry.
International human rights standards set the minimum age for marriage at 18. Many countries, though, permit
individuals under 18 to marry with 14 consent. Often child marriages occur without regard for 15 law.
Still, Agrienne Germain, president of the International Women’s Health Coalition, which campaigns against early
marriage, says a slow wave of change is building. “What you find today,” she says, “are older siblings－brothers as
well as sisters－standing up for the younger generation and standing against these practices.”
【題組】14 (A) protracted (B) pensive (C) patented (D) parental
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